I wanted to start out the new year by writing just a list of "what's new" with both of the girls.  This is a list that has been on-going for like a month now, so it may be kind of long :)

 

- for awhile she went around exclaiming "Mystery Do!"  Not sure what that was all about or where she got it from, but I think it was supposed to be equivalent to "Abracadabra!" or something.

- she's big on talking back lately...such as following my instructions with words like "but" and "maybe I can just". She is a slick negotiator!  We are working on turning that around.  I also hear "um...mom?" about a hundred times per day along with "why?".

- everything lately is "The best ____ ever!" according to Nattie!  For example - "This is the best cake ever!" or "This is the best Christmas ever!"  I love her enthusiasm!

- likes creating her own thank you cards for others!

- recognizes most of the names of her classmates by the first letter of their name

- is sure to tell me when Kate is bothering her

- Death and dying has been a huge topic for her the past few months. She wants to talk about relatives who have died and where do you go when you die? and what is it like in heaven?  She also has a fascination with playing dead, which we've tried to explain to her isn't really a pleasant game to be playing. Where is this all coming from?  One word - school. Not from teachers, of course, but from peers. Gotta love it!

- some of her favorite activities include singing, dancing, watching Super Why on PBS, playing dolls or dollhouse, playing with her digital art studio on the computer, reading (looking at books or being read to), and coloring. She loves playing Hide & Seek and Tag when she has a friend around. She enjoys chasing Katelyn around and "reading" books to her.

- There was a period when she was calling me "your highness" and "your majesty" on and off.  It was kind of funny :)

- Daddy and Grandpa Essington are her world!  She adores them to pieces!  I admit, sometimes they are just more fun than Mommy!

- hates to see others hurting

- hugs on Katie a lot and makes sure she has plenty of toys in front of her if Mommy can't get to her right away.

- is learning what each letter of the alphabet sounds like & writes out quite a few of the letters on her own

- she asked me recently when she'd be able to start driving a car!  - yikes!

- likes to pick out her own clothes

- is getting really good at introducing herself to other kids, asking their name, and asking if they want to play.

- still pretty shy with most adults and it's hard to explain to her how to be polite to strangers...I mean, how do you effectively warn your child about strangers and then also expect them to talk to them as well?  It is difficult.

- she loves dialing the telephone

- She has been learning about her family a little more in depth lately.  Such as the fact that her Grandma is Daddy's mom and her uncles are Mommy & Daddy's brothers. It can be confusing for a young child.

- Ever since her last birthday, everything is "When I was three..." and "When I turn five..."

- is learning how to play fair.  We recently caught her cheating during a game of Candyland and we called her on it (gently).  She was so ashamed, but I think she understood.

- sometimes she calls Katelyn "sweetie"

- she is very physical...loves being cuddled, kissed, hugged, tickled, etc.

- she feels important when she has a small job to do...like letting the dogs out of their cage, picking up her toys, or turning on the Christmas tree lights.

- she is becoming more aware of that fact that people can see her and things about her...such as "But Mom, they will see my band-aid and look at me!" 

- loves school and church!

- current favorite foods are pizza, chocolate milk (chocolate anything), pb&j sandwiches, cheese, apples with peanut butter, yogurt, chicken, cereal with milk, pancakes, etc.

 

- can play Peek-a-Boo and is learning Pat-a-Cake

- loves to laugh with her sister!

- will pat you on your back or lay her head on you to show love (I love it!)

- has learned how to put toys in holes - such as placing blocks in a bucket, etc.

- some of her favorite toys are telephones (we have many), her big block activity center thing, elephant you put the balls in, and the plastic rocking horse. 

- starting to be interested in books...she likes to pull each one down from the shelf and leaf through the pages.

- not quite interested in walking yet.  She'll stand for periods of time or take a few steps.  She is interested in climbing, though :)  She is a dare devil!  She'll climb up on the children's rocking chair and stand on it with both feet. She climbs onto the fireplace.  She can get on her rocking horse and riding toy by herself.

- she is always waving and saying "bye" with a big, cheesy grin

- she eats all sorts of things now...chunks of soft fruit, crackers, tiny pieces of chicken, pasta, Cheerios, etc. 

- she is babbling constantly now and though it's hard to tell sometimes I think I've heard her say the following words in some form or another:  good girl, baby, duck, car, ball, uh-oh, hello, bye, wow, dog, Ma-Ma, Da-Da.  Of course, she can understand a lot more than what she says.

- she has learned that the fireplace is hot and that "hot" means no touching

- she gives her dolls hugs and pats them

- loves being in the cool, windy air

- she is all over the place in the bathtub and splashes a lot

- puts necklaces on by herself and likes wearing them

- face lights up when I say we are going to "go get Sissy at school".  We always have the same routine...Katelyn rides in the umbrella stroller so that Mom's hands are free to help Natalie gather her things to go home.

- she is starting to realize that she has hair, a nose, a belly, and is wearing a diaper.  Sometimes she'll even pat at her belly when you say "belly, belly"!

- she likes to lick stuff!  Just about anything...the window, shoes, or just anything that is new to her.

 

 

Jan 1 ~ New Years Day was a relaxing day for us here at home. Everyone kept their pajamas on for the day.  Craig watched football, the girls played with their Christmas toys, and I caught up on some photo editing and journal writing.  Katie is really enjoying the soft puppy toy that we got her - it says things and plays music. We also got her a new walking toy, but she doesn't seem interested and it doesn't appear to be of very good quality.  I forgot that we have a very nice, sturdy walking/riding toy in the garage that was Nat's, so I think we'll drag that out and take the other toy back.  Natalie has been very content playing with her new dollhouse furniture, tea set, and ballerina Barbie - yes, Mommy and Daddy gave Nattie her first Barbie! 

     I've been thinking a lot about this third pregnancy.  I am still amazed and just thrilled about it!  Funny how I can look back and realize that there were some subtle signs that I was pregnant and didn't know yet. Like my sense of smell was all wacky - I could smell certain things a mile away, or I'd smell things that weren't really there.  My sense of taste went a little wacky as well - some things just tasted really bad.  I was super exhausted - the kind of tired where I would just fall asleep sitting up and not know why I was so tired. Natalie comments or asks about the baby every day. I'll be tucking her in bed at night and she'll say "I'm so excited that there's going to be another baby!".  And she says it with such a sparkle in her eye and a dreamy look on her face.  Tonight she asked "Mom, when will the baby be here?"  Of course I told her it will be quite awhile from now, that Mommy's belly has to get very big first, and that I will be sure to let her know when the time is near. I told her that no matter how many babies come to join our family, that she will always be very special to me.

 

Jan 3 ~ Today was the first day back at preschool after Christmas break.  Poor Natalie had to skip school today because of a stomach bug... she was fine after throwing up about four times in the morning and sleeping most of the day. Craig attended the presidential caucus in the evening - the candidate he likes right now is Ron Paul. Natalie is really enjoying the new books she got for Christmas.  We've been reading the Frog and Toad series at bedtime...I read those as a child and we gave her a three-book set as one of ther gifts. We are also reading from The Jesus Storybook Bible. It is a fantastic Bible with great writing and illustrations, but I think it may be a bit too mature for her right now.  Though it says it's written for kids four and older, Craig is thinking maybe six or seven would be a more appropriate age. For example, they tell the story of how God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac...well, of course we want our children to know the truth as it is in the Bible, but Natalie doesn't understand what sacrifice means and all she sees is this picture of a daddy with a knife, etc. It's a little too much and too scary for a child her age...especially when their little minds can't process the whole story.  So we may have to put that Bible away for awhile and find something else for the time being.  Kate is babbling up a storm!  She pulls books down from the shelf, plops down on the floor with them, and looks at the pictures while talking her sweet baby talk.  Once in awhile I can sit down and read a book to her, but usually she won't sit still for long. 

 

Jan 6 ~ Craig set up the ball pit in our upstairs living area. Natalie received a ball pit for Christmas a few years ago - we had it up for awhile, but it is huge and she got tired of it so we put it away. I told the girls that we'd bring it out once I put the Christmas decorations away.  Both girls jumped in and played for a long time!  Tonight we had pizza over next door at the Mitchell's house. It was really nice to share some adult conversation with Kelly and Karen. Katelyn got to spend time playing near Dakota. Natalie may have been a little bored with no one her age to play with, but I think she was okay just hanging out. 

     Katie has been slowly walking more and more each day.  She'll take a few steps here and there. She also wants to do everything that her big sister does.  Sometimes this excites Natalie and sometimes it frustrates her. We've been having some fights over toys lately, but nothing you wouldn't expect from two little girls!  Natalie spent the entire day the other day wearing her new princess dress-up shoes.  She also has a set of lacing cards now and she does an excellent job with them. 

 

Jan 8 ~ Tonight our family went over to the mall for dinner and some time out of the house. I told Craig the baby in my tummy was craving Chick-fil-A :)  We took the girls over to the play area, where Natalie ran into her friend Cade from preschool.  We ended our night with ice cream from Whitey's. 

 

Jan 9 ~ I woke up this morning with some bleeding...I didn't freak out too much since I had the same thing early while carrying Natalie. But I wasn't due to have my first prenatal exam for another week, so I was told to go over and get an ultrasound. So the whole family went over to Westside Imaging. We've been there many times before, but this time they asked me to go first by myself into the ultrasound room and then they'd call Craig and the kids in after a few minutes.  Well, we thought maybe they'd get me settled and call Craig in before actually starting, but they didn't.  They did the entire ultrasound first, then I got dressed, then they called him in to show him the baby on the screen. We were not happy at all with that...I guess it is a new way they are doing things in that office.  Craig was sure to voice his opinion with the staff concerning the new procedure. I mean, what if my ultrasound turned out to be bad news?  I would have been lying there without my husband hearing (and seeing) the news!  Not a good thing.  Anyway...the ultrasound turned out to be great news!  Everything looked fine with the baby measuring at six weeks and one day old.  And even though the baby looked like nothing more than a tiny jelly bean, there was a tiny heart beating already!  The heart was beating at 96 beats per minute.  What a relief to know that our little one is growing well!  We can expect a due date of September 2.

 

Jan 10 ~ Craig went grocery shopping for me tonight, which is a tremendous help since I've been feeling so tired.  It's been awhile since he's done a big shopping trip.  So he was astonished at how much he spent!

 

Jan 11 thru 13 ~ Craig's parents came out to spend the weekend in Iowa!  Katie showed her grandparents how she can push the babydoll stroller around and how she can climb all over the fireplace.  Natalie had a ton of fun playing dollhouse with her Gran!  Both girls were able to go sledding in the backyard with their Grandpa Essington, so that was a treat. On Saturday, Katelyn started drinking whole milk in place of formula. She seems to like it, so all is well. On Saturday night, Mommy was Daddy's date to the Pearson holiday party. This year's party was held in Cedar Rapids at the Crowne Plaza Five Seasons Hotel.  We enjoyed some decent appetizers and the company of Mark and Lori Flanders.  There were prize drawings and Craig won a gift certificate to Scheels. Even though we don't participate in drinking and dancing much anymore, it was still a good time. The mingling and people watching is a lot of fun.  Before we left home for the party, Katelyn planted some of her big open mouthed kisses on my lips...I love those!  Mom and Dad Essington went to church with us on Sunday morning.  Katie graduated from the infant room and is now enjoying the big toddler room.  We had brunch over at Iowa River Power - didn't spend too long on the bridge because it was cold outside!  After IRP we went to the mall for a bit. Grandma and Grandpa loved watching the girls explore the play area. While at the play area, we ran into Mrs. Fink (Natalie's teacher) and her five year old daughter, Julia. Natalie's teacher was so happy to see Nat (one of the things I love about Mrs. Fink).  Natalie and Julia had a great time playing tag together. 

 

Jan 15 ~ Craig joined the gym over by this work today.  Some of the other guys have joined and they are hoping to play basketball together or workout some weekday afternoons. Katie tried strawberries for the first time today and also discovered how entertaining it is to throw Cheerios to the dogs.  Katelyn's nap times have been a little messy lately...I think she wants to go from two naps to one but is having difficulty.

 

Jan 16 ~ This morning was our first Hearts In Touch meeting since back from holiday break. We had some really awesome group time today - just a lot of women opening their hearts and getting support and feedback from other ladies. During prayer requests I asked for prayer concerning our pregnancy.  Many people are happy when I tell them we are having a third child...but there have been quite a few (more than I expected) who make negative remarks or looks when I tell them the news. Now they aren't super awful remarks or looks, but you can tell when someone is not genuinely happy for you. Mostly remarks about how crazy we are for wanting more than two kids and how full our hands are going to be and how we won't be able to handle it. There are just many people nowadays who don't understand why anyone would want any more than two children. So I was asking my group to pray for us - to pray that Craig and I don't let these kinds of remarks poison our minds and attitudes when it comes to bringing more babies into our home.  This third pregnancy is different for us in the way of just how calm we feel about it.  Not to say we won't feel crazy later, but we are at peace right now :)  I think we just have more confidence in God...knowing that He's allowed this new life and He knows we can adequately parent three children. 

     Craig watched the girls in the evening while I had dinner with some ladies at Olive Garden.  Barbara Willhoit and her family are moving to Texas this weekend, so eight of us gathered to say goodbye to her. Most of these women I've either met through Hearts In Touch or Bible study.  I really liked talking with Jennifer Tymkiw about pregnancy and parenting...found out she is expecting her second child just a few weeks before we're expecting our baby!  Also enjoyed getting to know Lisa Nierman better - we talked a lot about marriage and such.

 

Jan 17 ~ We are just over seven weeks along in the pregnancy and had our first prenatal exam today!  Dr. Clevenger said everything was looking good and that my uterus is growing. We'll have another appointment in one month - and at that time we should be able to hear the heartbeat! - exciting! 

     Katelyn has been having some tummy troubles since she started milk.  She is having a very hard time going to the bathroom and it is painful. So she now gets a sippy cup of half apple juice/ half water late in the morning to help her along. It seems to do the trick. We've also learned that Kate loves waffles - she likes to hold the waffle whole in her hands and chow down on it. Natalie is quite the artist lately.  She colors in the lines and uses a variety of crayons and markers. She has drawn some more intricate things such as a bus, a caterpillar, a crab, and people with hair and eyebrows!  I taught her how to do connect-the-dots and she picked up on that quickly. She also likes her digital art studio on the computer - so in that way she's becoming a computer whiz as well...she flips fast through all the screens and tools.  Natalie is learning so much lately!  She can now write her entire first and last name completely on her own. She knows what many of the letters sound like.

     Craig's basketball team at the rec center won a game tonight!  Go Team Rusty!!  It's been a long time since they've won a game. Also - some of the guys at Craig's work have decided they are going to try out some of the different restaurants in our area instead of just having the same old boring thing to eat each week.  So far they have tried a Middle Eastern type of restaurant and a sushi restaurant. I have to admit that I'm a little jealous, but it's during Craig's lunch hour and I'm happy that he can have the time to bond with other guys and try something new.

 

Jan 18 ~ Craig's work team at Pearson had their holiday lunch today.  So they went to a restaurant and also went bowling.  I think Katelyn is trying to say words such as sock, boot, done, and cracker.

 

Jan 21 ~ Craig had the day off work today and went on a ski trip!  He went up to Dubuque to Sundown Mountain with his manager Chris Moudy and some guy named Mike (friend of Chris).  I had told Craig to please be careful on the slopes...I felt the need to remind him that he is not a professional skier and that he had a pregnant wife and two small children that need him at home! :)  Well, halfway through the day I received a message on my cellphone. Craig had sent a photo of himself and he looked slightly banged up.  It was hard to tell from the tiny, grainy picture what I was seeing.  He eventually came home and walked in the door...his forehead and nose bearing these huge bloody looking scratches. He had taken a pretty good spill and landed straight on his face. We'll have to see if any scars are left after this ordeal. Craig did have a really good time and wants to go skiing more often!

     My day wasn't as thrilling as Craig's, but it was busy.  Both girls seem to have pretty bad head colds right now with runny/stuffy noses, sneezing, and coughing. Natalie even decided to stay home from dance class tonight.  I had to dig the vaporizer out of the closet to put in Natalie's bedroom.  Katelyn had her first peanut butter and jelly sandwich today...yum!

 

Jan 24 ~ It's been a long couple of days. Everyone in our house seems to have a cold and we've had a lot of snow.  Kate woke up snotty this morning and Nat woke up barky. I am really hoping that Natalie doesn't end up with croup and in the ER...she is known to get croupy this time of year. I was going to keep Nattie home from school, but she seemed to act healthier as the morning progressed and she wanted to go. While Nat was in school, Kate and I went to the store to get a second vaporizer so we could have one for each of the kids' rooms.  Katelyn and Natalie were so cute in the afternoon...they were taking turns pushing each other on the riding toy - yep, our little Katie Bug has some muscles!

 

Jan 25 thru 27 ~ My lovely husband and my lovely daughters went to Bloomington for the weekend, and I got to stay home!  I had plans to organize some things in the house and to just relax.  I spent Friday morning and afternoon tending to the girls and packing them for their trip.  Craig loaded up the van and they left by late afternoon. My first priority was to take a short nap!  After my nap I cleaned a little, worked on printing out some of my journals, and then drove over to Pancheros to get some dinner to bring home. Sadly, I didn't enjoy having our big bed all to myself as much as I thought I would. I did sleep well, but it was so quiet and I could feel how empty the house was. I took an extra long shower on Saturday and then went to Zender's for an hour-long massage. It felt great!  I stopped at The Cottage next door for a coffee and a couple pastries...they have the best cherry turnovers.  Drove home, placed my bag of pastries on the end table, and then went upstairs for a few minutes.  I came back downstairs to find cherry smeared on the carpet and only a couple of lonely crumbs on the table where my pastries would have been!  The dogs (probably Brigit) had gotten in the bag and ate both of my turnovers!  I was livid!  The Cottage is all the way downtown...I only get these pastries when I get a massage...which is like once per year :(  Oh well. I told the dogs that if they dared to throw up my treats, that they would be living somewhere else!  I spent the afternoon trying to catch up on the girls' babybooks (I still have a ways to go). I started to feel really rundown and achy, so I thought maybe it was just because I needed to eat and rest.  So I ordered some Olive Garden takeout and picked it up.  I ended up feeling worse and decided that I had the flu. I felt like I had been run over by a truck.  Sunday I felt the same and wasn't able to do much of anything...even relaxing wasn't relaxing. So much for my weekend...oh well...Craig mentioned that he'd be glad to give me the house again sometime later this year. Craig and the girls had a nice weekend in Illinois. Craig took Natalie to see the new Veggie Tales movie on Saturday.  They sat with David Branch and his son Isaiah at the theatre.  From what I heard, the kids were just giggling together and having a wonderful time!  The also went to visit Craig's Grandma Essington in Monticello. And on Sunday they went sledding with Grandpa in his backyard.

 

Jan 28 ~ Natalie still has a cough and it was non-stop this morning.  So I decided to reschedule her dentist appointment for next week.  I still have some kind of flu bug..except now it's not only just an achy flu, but also a stomach flu. Not fun. Craig came home early so he could take Natalie over to her dance class.

 

Jan 29 ~ Today was Natalie's "Special Day" at school - which means she got to bring snack, be a special helper, and present something for show and tell.  She has been looking forward to her turn, so she was glad for today. She decided to bring her little photo album to share with the class. When I picked her up from school she was showing a few of her friends some of the different pictures and telling all about them. I am still feeling under the weather, but I think I'm at the tail end of it all now.  Nattie, Katie, and I all took really good naps in the afternoon...it was a very dreary, cold, windy day.  Our bird feeder flew off the tree and I thought the dogs were going to blow away!  Daddy brought home some Chinese food from Panda Express for dinner, so that was greatly appreciated.

 

Jan 30 ~ Today I happened to look out the window and saw this huge bird perched on one of our backyard trees.  After blinking a few times, I realized it was a hawk...pretty cool!  Tried to grab my camera, but it was gone by the time I returned. 

     My flu symptoms have ceased...unfortunately, Natalie still has a cough that comes and goes so I'm trying to keep tabs on that.  I woke up this morning to find I was bleeding again. It is brown in color which means old blood so I'm not too alarmed, but sort of surprised that I'm suddenly bleeding again this far into pregnancy. Though there are stories of women who have bled their entire nine months...so who knows. I decided to call the nurse anyway just to make sure they didn't want me to come over. The nurse talked to Clevenger who said to let it go unless I have bad cramping or red blood. It could be left over from when I bled a couple weeks ago or it could be nothing. Guess I'll just have to try not to think about it too much.

     We had choir rehearsal tonight and I also stayed after to practice for a quartet ensemble we are doing in the chapel this weekend. I am really excited to be singing with a small group...but also a little concerned that I am not real familiar with two of the four songs we are singing. We are singing Holy Holy Holy which is a hymn I know well and Unfailing Love which is a contemporary song that I could sing in my sleep, but we are also doing two other unfamiliar hymns called Fairest Lord Jesus and Worthy of Worship. The hymns have lots of notes and multiple verses so my eyes are all over the sheet music trying to get it all to come together :)  I'm just praying for God to give me the ability!  It's fun but craziness!  On a sad note...it was announced in choir tonight that our instrumental director, John Carlson, has been let go from church staff.  We weren't given much detail about the circumstances, but prayed for John and his family and for the church to be able to pick up where he left off.  We are losing a very talented musician.  Plus his wife, Christine, will be leaving also - she is very sweet and helped with many tasks behind the scenes.

 

Jan 31 ~ This morning Kate and I had a playdate with Dakota Mitchell and her mom.  We met at the mall play area while Natalie was in school. With the little girls being so young they aren't into playing as friends yet, but do their share of cruising around.  After the girls got tired of playing, Karen and I buckled them into their strollers and walked up and down the mall for awhile.  I'm starting to feel like I'm getting some of my energy back even though I'm still in my first trimester of pregnancy.  I still had some bleeding this morning, but no pain as of now.